7 Goal Stunner at Azteca Stadium.

By: Mauro | April 3rd, 2008

AMERICA (MEX) 4 Vs RIVER (ARG) 3
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Playing at the Azteca stadium is not easy to begin with, the pollution and the high altitude, not to mention the long flight. But this was actually a decent match. I was expecting a boring stalemate ending in a 0-0 or a 1-1 draw but this was not that type of match. Instead, this was the type of match where neither side seemed settled in the back to hold each other. This might be why América have not been at their best lately and River, in all honesty, haven’t had a good defense since the Ameli/Tuzzio tandem was broken up.

In either case, River attacked, somewhat disorganized but found in Archubi, who scored on the weekend for River, a goal scorer early in the first half. It must be said that Archubi has come from out of nowhere to be a bright spot for River of late. River then sat back and waited for América to come after them. Which they did. River was able to hold América off until the first half was over but it was mostly thanks to their goal keeper, Juan Pablo Carrizo, easily their best player on the night despite the score line.

In the 2nd half, América came out guns blazing and scored two goals, seemingly off successive plays, with such ease it caused a certain amount of terror in me. Both plays were almost identical, player on the wing with space to send in a perfectly weighted ball and the striker in the center with the River defender beat. Rodrigo Iñigo scored the first one, and Enrique Esqueda scored the second. River was putting on a clinic in what not to do on plays like these. Within a few minutes, River was able to pull level off a free kick near the penalty area, where at first look it seemed Falcao headed the ball in but it in fact went in off América defender Diego Cervantes. But don’t feel sorry for Cervantes, he was revindicated a few minutes later when off a similar free kick he was able to score, again, off a cross from the left on a similar play from the first two goals. For a while there it seemed that it was the América strikers vs. Carrizo and defense were just minor obstacles. So on what seemed like the next play, River earn a free kick similar to the one they scored on before. Abelairas with the service into the mound of shirt pulling, elbow jabbing, yellow and white scramble, Abreu appears and heads the ball over Ochoa who made the huge mistake of coming off his line for the ball but Abreu had already made contact and it was 3-3. Only 8 minutes later, Salvador Cabañas scored on a fantastic play where he received the ball with his back to the goal. Carrizo could do nothing.

That was all she wrote. Lots of errors on defense for both sides, a little more organization would have avoided so many goals to decide the game. Also, lots of diving on the part of both teams. 4-4 to América. Kudos to them for defending their grounds against their direct competition in Group 5. This was essentially a match that afforded them the opportunity to show the rest of the clubs in this competition that they are still alive and kicking. Still, they have a tough match ahead of them when they travel to Santiago, Chile (what could be the longest commute in the competition) to face Universidad Catolica who still have a chance to qualify should they win this match by three clear goals to cover the goal difference.

River, on the other hand, cannot rest their players for the final match of this group when they host San Martin. They absolutely need a minimum of a draw to advance should America lose to U. Catolica, but in River’s favor is the fact that they have not lost at home in this competition AND San Martin have yet to win an away match. San Martin would need an away win but on top of that, they’d need to win by two clear goals to cover the goal difference.

Both matches will take place on the 17th. This group is a nail biter and it’s still not clear as to which teams will advance. I have América and River Plate coming out of this group and I’m not changing my mind about that.

As always, check here for stats and upcoming matches and whatnot.